Builds 'Little Yellowy' 1982 BJ42 LX build
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plink01
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- #163
So my heater box has been slowely leaking coolant for a while. I was hoping it was just the other hose i hadn't replaced on it yet so i changed it, but it just seemed to make it worse.
So it was time to re build the heater unit. It went really well and wasn't very difficult at all. I'm super happy how it turned out. I broke 1 plastic fragile bushing while doing it but i managed to glue it well enough together that it still works. Apart from that it was 100% success.
It stunk for a week or two of paint fumes but its finally settled now.
Finding the new core was the most concerning bit. The only 2 i could find online were from City Racer and ToyotaMatt and getting them shipped from the US would have cost a heap. I took it to my local radiator shop and he found one no dramas. Super happy with it. No more leaks.
I replaced all the foam as well and now everything seals a lot better and it seems to make way more heat, its almost too hot now!
So it was time to re build the heater unit. It went really well and wasn't very difficult at all. I'm super happy how it turned out. I broke 1 plastic fragile bushing while doing it but i managed to glue it well enough together that it still works. Apart from that it was 100% success.
It stunk for a week or two of paint fumes but its finally settled now.
Finding the new core was the most concerning bit. The only 2 i could find online were from City Racer and ToyotaMatt and getting them shipped from the US would have cost a heap. I took it to my local radiator shop and he found one no dramas. Super happy with it. No more leaks.
I replaced all the foam as well and now everything seals a lot better and it seems to make way more heat, its almost too hot now!
plink01
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- #164
I went exploring looking for a swimming hole the other month and i go to jump out of the car and the door wont open! I mucked around with it for a while but i could not open it. So for the rest of the day i had to jump in and out through the passenger side. That gets old really quick!
Once i got home i started investigating more thoroughly and i could not for the life of me get the door open. I'm not sure how i really did it in the end, i kept jamming my flat head screw driver into every orifice of the mechanism from the inside and after about half an hour of yelling it finally opened.
I pulled the door apart and the locking mechanism had broke due to old age. Probably a good thing it happend on a day trip, not a multi day adventure!
I paid a sqillion dollars and bought a new genuine one. It bolted up beautifully and its all fixed.
I went on a 4 day hike to Little Desert National Park and then met up with the work dudes for a 3 day 4x4 through Big Desert National Park. I didn't take many photos for some reason, but here is Yellow with the Big Koala.
Once i got home i started investigating more thoroughly and i could not for the life of me get the door open. I'm not sure how i really did it in the end, i kept jamming my flat head screw driver into every orifice of the mechanism from the inside and after about half an hour of yelling it finally opened.
I pulled the door apart and the locking mechanism had broke due to old age. Probably a good thing it happend on a day trip, not a multi day adventure!
I paid a sqillion dollars and bought a new genuine one. It bolted up beautifully and its all fixed.
I went on a 4 day hike to Little Desert National Park and then met up with the work dudes for a 3 day 4x4 through Big Desert National Park. I didn't take many photos for some reason, but here is Yellow with the Big Koala.
plink01
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- #165
So i sold my old Ford Falcon the other month and came into some money. I've wanted a 60 series for a fair while now and i thought now is probably the time. My 80 series needs a massive birthday and i don't think i really have it in me. Its on LPG and its getting really hard to actually buy the stuff now. The whole LPG system is getting really old and the whole thing needs a makeover.
So the plan is now to swap the good stuff off my 80 series onto the 60 series and i'm gonna sell the 80.
Its a 1988 HJ61 Sahara. So its got the factory turbo 12HT engine. Full Sahara optioned. Its got the fancy seats and interior, sunroof, rear air con, center console fridge/ice maker, auto, electric mirrors. Its in really good condition and a perfect blank canvas.
The plan with it is to be my more long distance touring vehicle. Its automatic so my misus can drive it and give me a bit of a spell on the long distance drives back and forth from Melbourne.
The 40 is still my main weekender and high country specialist. The 40 aint going anywhere!
I'm pretty excited to have a new car, i'm going to be keeping this one somewhat period correct like the 40, but i'll be adding a few modern bits and pieces to make long distance camping a bit more comfortable. The 40 is pretty much finished in terms of modifying it. I just need to finish off the roof rack and do some more 12v wiring and its pretty much done.
This gives me a brand new money pit to throw all my money in too, the 40 has only just recently stopped eating all my money.
I'll be making a build thread for it in the 60 section over the next week or so if anyone is interested in it.
So the plan is now to swap the good stuff off my 80 series onto the 60 series and i'm gonna sell the 80.
Its a 1988 HJ61 Sahara. So its got the factory turbo 12HT engine. Full Sahara optioned. Its got the fancy seats and interior, sunroof, rear air con, center console fridge/ice maker, auto, electric mirrors. Its in really good condition and a perfect blank canvas.
The plan with it is to be my more long distance touring vehicle. Its automatic so my misus can drive it and give me a bit of a spell on the long distance drives back and forth from Melbourne.
The 40 is still my main weekender and high country specialist. The 40 aint going anywhere!
I'm pretty excited to have a new car, i'm going to be keeping this one somewhat period correct like the 40, but i'll be adding a few modern bits and pieces to make long distance camping a bit more comfortable. The 40 is pretty much finished in terms of modifying it. I just need to finish off the roof rack and do some more 12v wiring and its pretty much done.
This gives me a brand new money pit to throw all my money in too, the 40 has only just recently stopped eating all my money.
I'll be making a build thread for it in the 60 section over the next week or so if anyone is interested in it.
Awesome stuff right there.
AussieHJCruza
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I love my 60 and the 12HT is a sweet engine!
plink01
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- #168
Things have been pretty quiet on the 40 series for a while. The new 60 series has been taking up a heap of my time and i went to the USA over Christmas.
Pretty cool trip, we hired a Jeep off Turo and spent a few weeks camping and doing some light 4wding in Arizona and southern Utah. Its the first time i've ever spent some time in a Jeep. Man what a heap of junk! It felt so cheap and plasticy. The soft top was a massive pain in the ass, but it survived and it did take us to some incredible places.
Mexican Hat Valley of The Gods was probably the highlight and one of the best places i've ever camped in.
Zion was completly empty, i snowshoed every hike and it was incredible. I did an overnight 42km hike to Deer Trap Mountain in un tracked knee deep snow in snow shoes and it nearly killed me. Probably one of my most proudest moments.
The trip was supposed to be 4 weeks of snowboarding but i have blown a disk in my back so that put an end to that. We chose Arizona because it was supposed to be warm, it did nothing but snow the whole trip! There was some crazy cold nights in my little tent. The coldest i think was -18 Celsius. Everything was frozen most mornings. My water, cooking oil, esky, beer etc.
It was a massive challange camping and hiking in those conditions, especially for an Australian. I learnt so much and i absoloutly loved it. Packing up everything frozen each morning was the hardest part. Setting up at the end of the day was easy.
I seemed to be the only bozo out there camping in this stuff. It was wild!
Pretty cool trip, we hired a Jeep off Turo and spent a few weeks camping and doing some light 4wding in Arizona and southern Utah. Its the first time i've ever spent some time in a Jeep. Man what a heap of junk! It felt so cheap and plasticy. The soft top was a massive pain in the ass, but it survived and it did take us to some incredible places.
Mexican Hat Valley of The Gods was probably the highlight and one of the best places i've ever camped in.
Zion was completly empty, i snowshoed every hike and it was incredible. I did an overnight 42km hike to Deer Trap Mountain in un tracked knee deep snow in snow shoes and it nearly killed me. Probably one of my most proudest moments.
The trip was supposed to be 4 weeks of snowboarding but i have blown a disk in my back so that put an end to that. We chose Arizona because it was supposed to be warm, it did nothing but snow the whole trip! There was some crazy cold nights in my little tent. The coldest i think was -18 Celsius. Everything was frozen most mornings. My water, cooking oil, esky, beer etc.
It was a massive challange camping and hiking in those conditions, especially for an Australian. I learnt so much and i absoloutly loved it. Packing up everything frozen each morning was the hardest part. Setting up at the end of the day was easy.
I seemed to be the only bozo out there camping in this stuff. It was wild!
plink01
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- #169
I don't remember everywhere we went but this is the trip pretty loosely.
Phoenix - Saguro National Park - Painted desert/Petrified Forrest National park - Mexican Hat - Flag Staff - Sedona - Dropped missus back off in Phoenix to go home and i stayed on solo for a few more weeks - Lake Powell (got a massive snowdump here and it never melted or warmed up for the rest of the trip.) - Kanab - Zion National Park - Bryce Canyon and finished in Tonto State Forrest/Lake Roosevelt.
It was the first time dealing with Americans and i didn't have any bad experiences! Definitely saw some crazy things (for an Australian) and some people had some pretty crazy ideas but everyone was really friendly and pretty surprised in seeing an Australian camping solo in the snow in the middle of Winter in a Jeep!
Phoenix - Saguro National Park - Painted desert/Petrified Forrest National park - Mexican Hat - Flag Staff - Sedona - Dropped missus back off in Phoenix to go home and i stayed on solo for a few more weeks - Lake Powell (got a massive snowdump here and it never melted or warmed up for the rest of the trip.) - Kanab - Zion National Park - Bryce Canyon and finished in Tonto State Forrest/Lake Roosevelt.
It was the first time dealing with Americans and i didn't have any bad experiences! Definitely saw some crazy things (for an Australian) and some people had some pretty crazy ideas but everyone was really friendly and pretty surprised in seeing an Australian camping solo in the snow in the middle of Winter in a Jeep!
plink01
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- #170
I could post a million more awesome photos of the US but i'll bring it back to the 40.
Like i said i've been restoring the HJ61 lately and have finally finished stage 1 of that so I've been doing a fair bit of camping and 4wding out of it to test it out.
Its been incredible, i'm super happy with it so far, its a beast. I've never had a 4wd with an auto and its pretty scary driving down super steep hills, but apart from that i can't fault it. I'm building it towards being more a long distance tourer. Little Yellow is my high country car so the auto won't be a problem. I'll probably start its own build thread tomorrow.
So Little Yellow went away to a fabricating shop to get a snorkel built. I bought a plastic one for it years ago but i couldn't bring myself to install it. I didn't think it would look right, the whole car is metal, i felt it needed a metal snorkel. I was going to build it myself but it would have involved so much trial and error! It would be cheaper to get these guys to build it after all the steel i would have wasted.
I'm super happy how it turned out. I wanted it to look like it was factory and not stand out too much. I've never seen a factory 40 series snorkel in real life. There are drawings of one on the Toyota parts diagrams, but i don't think they were ever an option in Aus. They must have been super rare world wide as i can only find one or two pictures of one and i'm not even sure if they actually are factory or just copies.
Stainless steel snorkels are a really big thing in Aus, i wanted mine painted black so it didn't look too blingin. I bought a genuine snorkel head off a 79 series to try and make it look more Toyota. I'm really happy how it turned out. Its crazy solid and I think it looks the part. The top hat isn't coolest looking head but it looks right, i've never seen anyone else do it. Probably coz they look stupid! If anyone lives in East Gippsland then go see the guys at SC Welding and Engineering in Bairnsdale. They did an awesome job.
Ideally i wouldn't have put a snorkel on it, but where i spend a lot of time 4wding there are a few really deep rivers that i cross regularly. They are generally pretty terrifying, especially in Winter and lap up around the top of the guards. The snorkel will make it much more comfortable and take some of the stress away from filling the engine full of water.
Like i said i've been restoring the HJ61 lately and have finally finished stage 1 of that so I've been doing a fair bit of camping and 4wding out of it to test it out.
Its been incredible, i'm super happy with it so far, its a beast. I've never had a 4wd with an auto and its pretty scary driving down super steep hills, but apart from that i can't fault it. I'm building it towards being more a long distance tourer. Little Yellow is my high country car so the auto won't be a problem. I'll probably start its own build thread tomorrow.
So Little Yellow went away to a fabricating shop to get a snorkel built. I bought a plastic one for it years ago but i couldn't bring myself to install it. I didn't think it would look right, the whole car is metal, i felt it needed a metal snorkel. I was going to build it myself but it would have involved so much trial and error! It would be cheaper to get these guys to build it after all the steel i would have wasted.
I'm super happy how it turned out. I wanted it to look like it was factory and not stand out too much. I've never seen a factory 40 series snorkel in real life. There are drawings of one on the Toyota parts diagrams, but i don't think they were ever an option in Aus. They must have been super rare world wide as i can only find one or two pictures of one and i'm not even sure if they actually are factory or just copies.
Stainless steel snorkels are a really big thing in Aus, i wanted mine painted black so it didn't look too blingin. I bought a genuine snorkel head off a 79 series to try and make it look more Toyota. I'm really happy how it turned out. Its crazy solid and I think it looks the part. The top hat isn't coolest looking head but it looks right, i've never seen anyone else do it. Probably coz they look stupid! If anyone lives in East Gippsland then go see the guys at SC Welding and Engineering in Bairnsdale. They did an awesome job.
Ideally i wouldn't have put a snorkel on it, but where i spend a lot of time 4wding there are a few really deep rivers that i cross regularly. They are generally pretty terrifying, especially in Winter and lap up around the top of the guards. The snorkel will make it much more comfortable and take some of the stress away from filling the engine full of water.
Man, I wish I had been keeping up on mud. I've been following your thread for a while since I imported a 40LX to the states back during COVID...i also live in FlagstaffI AZ and could have loaned you mine. You'd have been right at home for your camp outs! You picked quite the year. The snow has been heavy! I see I picture off what looks like devils bridge in Sedona (just down the road from me by about 45 minutes with snow.... Almost never snows there. Anyhow, good thread. Happy trails.
plink01
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- #173
Lastly i think i've finally fixed another one of my electrical gremlins.
I have an FM Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into the cigarette plug so i can retain the factory radio head unit and still listen to music via Bluetooth/Spotify.
But the power to it keeps cutting in an out, same when i've got my phone plugged in getting charged. Its been driving me crazy. I've got more cigarette/USB plugs in the roof console but they are also doing the exact same thing. I thought they were related and i was pulling my hair out trying to work out what was going on, everything else electrical works fine.
Turns out i think it was just a coincidence both weren't working properly.
The factory cigarette plug is pretty cactus and really rusty inside. I bought a genuine new one and replaced it and it seems to work fine now. I think i have a loose connection or a broken wire for my auxiliary plugs. I'm going to rip them out and completly re wire them.
Old on the top, new underneath.
I have an FM Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into the cigarette plug so i can retain the factory radio head unit and still listen to music via Bluetooth/Spotify.
But the power to it keeps cutting in an out, same when i've got my phone plugged in getting charged. Its been driving me crazy. I've got more cigarette/USB plugs in the roof console but they are also doing the exact same thing. I thought they were related and i was pulling my hair out trying to work out what was going on, everything else electrical works fine.
Turns out i think it was just a coincidence both weren't working properly.
The factory cigarette plug is pretty cactus and really rusty inside. I bought a genuine new one and replaced it and it seems to work fine now. I think i have a loose connection or a broken wire for my auxiliary plugs. I'm going to rip them out and completly re wire them.
Old on the top, new underneath.
plink01
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- #174
Thanks for the gesture! I hope to be back one day if my back heals to ski Utah and Colorado. I'll keep the LX in mind.
That's a beauty. I love the Donaldson aircleaner on the guard. That's super Australian! The LX would be super rare in America. They are rare here and it's the only place they were sold.
We drove through Flagstaff the first time in a monster snow storm. I couldn't believe it, me being pretty uneducated in America didnt even consider that it would snow in Arizona. That was as thick and heavy as any snow I've seen anywhere in the world.
The ditches were full of cars and there were snow ploughs zooming around everywhere. It was awesome!
I'm glad I got to see Arizona like that. We stayed in Cottonwood for a few days and each day hiking in Sedona we got heaps of snow. We spent 3 days in The Valley of the Gods and it snowed a bunch as we were leaving. Crazy to see it in those conditions. I was expecting Arizona to be really hot the whole time. Instead I was pretty much sitting on top of the campfire every night trying to stay warm.
